


Hero

by SaintLeona



Category: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Pining, Self-Sacrifice, Unrequited Love, so much pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 06:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11572164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintLeona/pseuds/SaintLeona
Summary: There's a formula for telling a story, and Varric knows how the best ones are remembered.





	Hero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seruphim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seruphim/gifts).



> This...wasn't what I set to write when I got the prompts, but it is _so much better._ I hope you enjoy it seruphim!

_ Storytelling is as much a science as it is an art.  Anyone can tell a story, and everyone does.  But the difference between telling a story and storytelling, well, that's the difference between a cooper and a sovereign.  It's a difference Varric knows well, and it has kept him on the best-seller lists for years. _

_ Most of his success lies in his heroes.  He'd once told Hawke his recipe for making a good hero - one part down-to-earth, one part selfless nobility, two parts crazy, then add a shitload of wild falsehoods - and it was true, for the most part.  But what he left out was the final ingredient to a good tale, what makes the story worth listening to, and what makes it one that will be remembered through the ages. _

_ It's not a good story unless the hero dies. _

Varric is almost free from the Fade when he hears the words that stop him cold.  He knows that voice.  He's heard it countless times since he met that snarky mage in Hightown.  It's the voice that would brook no argument.

"Corypheus is mine."

Hawke is volunteering to stay in the Fade.  She is volunteering to die.

He turns away from the rift, away from relative safety, and readies Bianca.  The Inquisitor is looking at both Hawke and Stroud as they argue over who will be the one to ensure the rest of them escape.  He tries to scream at them, to make them hurry, anything that would get Hawke moving toward the way out.  He tries to tell himself it's just because Hawke is his best friend and he would miss her, but for once, honesty wins out.  She means more than that, and it was time to stop pretending.  

Time stretches waiting for the Inquisitor to make a decision between Hawke and Stroud.  Minutes pass, hours, maybe more.  Varric can count each beat of his heart as it pounds in his ears.  Everything else falls away while he waits for the Inquisitor to decide if they would live or die.

Because if Hawke is staying here, then fuck it, so is he.

Lavellan closes her eyes, takes a breath and finally utters a single word.  "Stroud."

Stroud says something, Varric knows he does because he can see his mouth moving, but he can't hear anything, and he doesn't care.  Relief pours through him.  Hawke and Lavellan start running toward the open rift, and he doesn't wait for either one of them to change their minds.

He jumps through the rift and collapses on the stone of Adamant Fortress.  Lavellan and Hawke follow and the Inquisitor closes the rift.  He occasionally picks up a piece of conversation and then Lavellan is mourning Stroud, Wardens are pledging themselves to the Inquisition, and Hawke's voice rings above it like a bell.

"I'll inform the Wardens at Weishaupt what's happened.  Best they not get caught off guard."  Without as much as a goodbye, she walks away.

Dammit, she's leaving again.

Varric shakes his head, returning to his senses, and follows her out of the fortress.  "Hey, Hawke," he yells at her.  

Hawke stops and turns to face him.  "I know what you're going to say."

"I'm going to say it anyway."  He folds his arms over his chest.  "Andraste's ass, Hawke, you're the Champion of Kirkwall.  Don't you think messenger work is a little menial for you?"

She closes her eyes and sighs.  "Varric, I have to go.  You know that."

Yeah, he knows that.  "Doesn't mean I have to like it.  I just got used to having you around again."

"I won't be gone long.  You'll barely have time to miss me before I'm back and winning all your money from you."  She chuckles and lifts a corner of her mouth up in that trademark smirk of hers.

He wants to grab her by the arms, pull her down to his level for once, and kiss that smirk right off her face.  He wants to run his fingers through her hair, press his mouth to her ear, ask her,  _ beg  _ her, not to go, plead with her to stay with him.  He wants her to put her arms around him and kiss him back.  He wants her flat on her back and screaming his name.  He wants to be  _ hers _ .

But he doesn't do it.  Just like all the times before when he's had the chance to tell her exactly how he feels, he remains silent.   

Instead he takes her hand and places a soft kiss on her knuckles.  "Be careful Hawke," he warns.  "All sorts of people out there who are up to no good."

Hawke barks out a laugh.  "And I'm one of those people, remember?"  She pulls him into a brief, friendly hug.  "See you soon, Varric.  Remember to deal me in once in a while."  And without another word, she walks away from him into the night.

He watches her go, hoping she'll turn around for one last wave goodbye.  

She doesn't.

Varric pulls off the leather glove from his left hand, pushes up his sleeve, and smooths the small bit of fabric tied around his wrist.  He'd found the simple red square tucked neatly in the bottom of Hawke's wardrobe in Kirkwall when he was organizing after she fled the city.  He still has no idea where it came from or why she even had it, and it has become tattered and frayed in the past five years, but getting rid of it is out of the question.  It's a piece of Hawke, always with him, even if she never would be.

_ Sometimes, the hero lives. _

_ There is a tried and true method to crafting stories.  The best ones follow the formula and get told over and over again, in ever varying ways, but they all come down to the hero saving the day.  And if the hero does happen to survive, then they live happily ever after with the love of their life. _

_ But Varric isn't the hero of this tale, and only the hero gets the girl. _

**Author's Note:**

> It's not as long as I originally planned it to be, but honestly, I think it hits the emotion I was looking for.
> 
> And since Hawke is the hero, does that mean she gets the guy? Of course it does! At least in my world.
> 
> Thanks as always to the incomparable zendelai for the beta work. You are the best and I love you!


End file.
